Did you know? If you are Jewish, you do NOT have to circumcise. The blessing with the cutting is not required. You can do the blessing without the cutting. You can also wait to let the boy decide on his own if he wants to do the cutting ceremony. A 17.5 year old deciding is very different from forcing it onto a newborn.

Think about it. The act of circumcising for religious reasons is actually oppression according to our country’s concept of freedom of religion. Marking another person's body with YOUR religion is not freedom of religion. That's oppressing another person and forcing your views onto him. As parents, we want to guide and encourage our children to accept the gift of faith. Being a parent is learning how to rejoice in our children as PEOPLE, not extensions of ourselves.

But anyways, it seems most people are not informed on the religious aspect of circumcision. Circumcision of Biblical times was a small slit to draw drops of blood to fulfill the covenant. It was even at that time viewed as a harsh burden, somewhat of a humiliating thing, as it referenced the neighboring pagans, who were seen as dirty and evil. (They were into piercing, mutilations, tattoos, etc).

It's not even clear that circumcision was routinely practiced in Biblical times, anyways. For example, note that Paul refers to circumcision as a burden "even our fathers could not bear."

For Christians, circumcision is gravely immoral. When done for religious reasons, it represents a denial of Christ's divinity. It denies that Christ is the Redeemer. When a Christian circumcises her son and claims it is for religious reasons, she is saying, "Christ is not my savior. He did not fulfill the covenant. We are still waiting for our redeemer."

Often I hear Christians retort that, "Christ was circumcised as a baby, so I am going to circumcise my baby. It was good enough for Him." And this shows a profound misunderstanding of the depth of love Christ has for us. He came into this world to fulfill the Covenant. Of course He had to be circumcised. He also had to be crucified. He died so that we might live. In turn, He was circumcised so that our children could remain whole.

Meditating on the deeper meaning of Christ's circumcision can help us to fully understand how much He loves us and how much He has done for our children. It is no coincidence that Mary was told, "a sword shall pierce your heart" right after Jesus was circumcised. Clearly the two were connected. It's as if she was being reminded, "Hey, you just watched your son experience something painful, but more is to come."

Even when done for non-religious reasons, circumcision still violates Christian teachings and values. Mutilating another person, especially an innocent, helpless person, when NO infection or disease is present, is morally wrong. What is mutilation? Look in the dictionary to learn that mutilation is the removal of or destruction of a part of the body.

The majority of babies are born with healthy, perfect bodies and circumcision is the act of saying: "You have a defective body. We are going to surgically amputate an entire organ off your body, even though it is healthy and functioning."

As Enith Hernandez rightly points out: "Jesus may have been circumcised because he was Jewish but he was also crucified on the cross. Even then, He was NOT amputated the way our baby boys are surgically amputated in a hospital these days or even by modern Bris Milahs."